We are now in full Christmas festivities around here. Our bedtime songs are all Christmas ones and most of the books we’re reading are Christmas or winter themed. I love this time of year because despite the crafts we do all year long, we seem extra crafty in December. Over the top of all these activities, are the rhymes and fingerplays about Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees and snowmen that make us giggle and collapse in snuggles on the couch. Seriously, it’s the best!

Christmas Poems for Kids

Poems and Early Literacy

Learning nursery rhymes at a young age has proven to benefit those children as readers at 8 years of age. For a full review of the literature on this, visit Mel’s Desk and follow through all the comments. Great information there!

Here’s my take on it: Nursery rhymes expose young children to the structure and sounds of language. The more exposure they receive, the stronger the foundation they build. When their language foundation is strong, especially in the sounds of language, they can transition from spoken to written language more easily. These benefits, while valuable, are also long term and will take years to see the fruits of your labors.

For more immediate gratification, here are some fruits you can see almost right away when children are exposed to nursery rhymes, and I would extend that to rhymes, songs and fingerplays in general. Repeating rhymes builds the early literacy skill of phonological awareness. Helping children hear the individual sounds of language and how those sounds work together to form words builds vocabulary and grammatical patterns. Nursery rhymes are perfect for helping little ones get a sense for the feel and rhythm of the language. They also begin to recognize rhyming schemes that show them how sounds are used in the language. Setting words to music is another way to slow down the language and help little ones hear the individual sounds that make up words.

Ready for all that awesomeness to unfold for your little one? Start right now by sharing these Christmas poems for kids from Laptime Songs.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I love taking the month of November to enjoy fall, family, and food. We’re so lucky this year to be close enough to a few of Brent’s siblings that we are able to all get together for Thanksgiving. Since our kids will have a cousin and some other friends to play with, I thought I’d organize a little activity to help them get in the mood for their turkey dinner. I’ve collected some Thanksgiving poems as well as a couple books and a craft to keep them busy while they wait for dinner to begin.

When we lived in Utah I volunteered at the Orem Library as a story time teller for the youngest age group. Since it was for babies and young toddlers, it was called laptime. I loved learning how to incorporate rhymes, books and songs into a 20 minute experience that brought the joy of language and reading to little ones and their caregivers. I still use these skills when I plan playdates or community programs, or holiday gatherings. That’s why there’s a mix of Thanksgiving poems, songs, books and a hands-on craft in our Thanksgiving plans. Combining all of them together builds on the learning for each child as it’s easier to make connections from new information to already known stuff.

Our (hopefully) 20 Minute Plan

Start with the hands-on craft. Starting with the Feather Letter Turkey from Jodie at Growing Book by Book, the kids have something active to do while they transition into learning the Thanksgiving poems and songs. There are lots of ways to start a story time, but I’m choosing the craft this time because I think it will be something fun for them to use while we sing the Thanksgiving songs and learn the Thanksgiving poems.

Introduce the Thanksgiving poems and songs. While I’m crafting with my kids, (or cooking with them, or folding laundry with them) I often sing whatever song I know that our craft brings to mind. I find my kids are really willing to join in with me in reciting poems or singing songs during craft time. So while the kids are cutting feathers and coloring their turkey, I’m going to introduce the songs and poems. Here are the five I’m using next week.

Once everyone has their turkey finished, we will recite and sing the Thanksgiving poems and songs. Kids love repetition! Especially if they like something, they want to do it again and again. They are hardwired this way to facilitate learning. Once we’ve gone through all the poems and songs, I usually ask which is the favorite and we’ll do that one again. If there are multiple favorites, then we’ll do each one. I know it sounds like a lot, but it takes about a minute to recite the Thanksgiving poems and only a couple minutes for the longest song.

Once the wiggles are out, we’ll cozy up with our turkeys and read two books. Both of these books have great rhythm and rhyming so make for fun read alouds. We’ve had Gobble-Gobble Crash for a few years and have loved it. Though this year Scott is particularly fond of it. He requests it at lunch time frequently. Thanks for Thanksgiving is new to us this year and and I’m excited to add it to our collection of Fall/Thanksgiving books that I look forward to pulling out each year.

And that’s it! I’ll leave the kids with the books and their turkeys and run off to help with anything else that needs doing.

In keeping with the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m so thankful for the time I was able to volunteer at the Orem Library. It changed my life and has continued to shape who I am and how I spend my time with my kids. I’m also very thankful that we have four kids who ALL love books. Sammi has started to disappear and I’ll find her in her room totally engrossed in a book. I love that!

It’s the end of a busy day full of playing and yet, your little one seems more wound up and full of energy than should be possible. The crazy activity of little ones at bedtime is mind boggling. I call it tired energy! It seems that when little ones get tired, they are less able to regulate their behaviors and control their impulses. As their tiredness increases, their behavior seems to spiral out of control.

I’ve heard countless stories of parents abandoning bedtime plans because their child doesn’t appear tired and so they let them play in an effort to wear the child out to be ready for bedtime. But it could take hours for the child to behave in a way that looks tired to an adult. So, the second I see tired energy taking over, we double our bedtime efforts. Part of our bedtime routine is reading books and singing songs. The books are usually read just before getting into bed with songs finishing up our bedtime routine. These two activities, books and songs, are the perfect way for our kids to settle down and drift off to sleep.

Some nights it feels like we’ll never get to that point, though, with all the tired energy creating chaos as we move from bath to pajamas to teeth brushing. On nights like this, I reach into my bag of tricks and pull out these bedtime poems. I’ll choose whichever comes to mind or seems to relate to what we’ve done during the day. Instead of nagging to please come back to the bathroom with that tooth brush! I’ll just recite a poem. The rhyming and the rhythm of bedtime poems naturally draws children’s attention in. Some nights I just repeat the same rhyme a few times adding in tickles or silly faces. Other nights we’ll run through all the poems I can think of.

Let’s build your arsenal of bedtime poems to help you fight the tired energy. These 10 bedtime poems are a great start. They are found in the Mother Goose Treasury. Often, after we’re done and ready to read, we’ll find the poems we recited together in the book and read it one more time. The illustrations are so beautiful in the Mother Goose Treasury published by Parragon. It’s a great way to transition into the reading portion of our bedtime routine.

10 Bedtime Poems

Just click on each title to find the full lyrics in case you need a little reminder. Also, to help with remembering the lyrics in the heat of battle (agains the tired energy) I created this printable with the words to 6 of these bedtime poems. Just print it out and cut it up. You can keep them in the bathroom, on the dresser in your kids room, or where ever the tired energy seems to interrupt your bedtime routine.

Bedtime Poems Free Printable

Instructions: Print this sheet of bedtime poem cards on sturdy paper. Cut out the cards. Laminate if desired. Keep cards in the bathroom or on your little one’s dresser. Choose a poem to focus on each night or each week. Recite the poem during your bedtime routine to help your little one stay focused on getting ready for bed.

Don’t forget to follow up your poem by finding it in Mother Goose Treasury. This helps your little one learn so much about books and develops early literacy skills that will help them as the become readers.

At the Family Forward Conference in August we had an awesome crafting session with Duck Brand duct tape and Cricut. It was all about getting families into a creative place together. We love crafts at our house so this was right up our alley. We got some awesome Duck tape paper to run through the Cricut machine from the Cricut folks. Then we got to head over to the Duck tape booth and pick out a roll of duct tape for each member of our family. We’ve been riding high on that Duck tape since!

Encouraging Writing with Duck Tape

We have some early writers in our house now and so I’m always looking for ways to make writing more enticing for them. The girls always love to make books and write letters when it’s self initiated, but sometimes I have a project I’d like their help on and then they aren’t always game. So, when we had letters to write to friends and family who needed a little extra love and support, we brought out the Duck tape to help encourage their writing along!

We decorated the paper with Duck tape before we wrote our letters. Then we decorated the envelopes. We even used the Duck tape to frame where we write the address to help them get it in the right place and to know how much space to devote to writing the address. Knowing how to read the addresses on an envelope is also part of literacy development.

And hopefully, this decorated envelope and letter will brighten the receiver’s day. And maybe a few postal workers’ days along the way!

How do you encourage your children’s writing?

Elli has loved online learning websites so when I saw the opportunity to review Reading Eggs, I jumped on it! Not to mention I love the process of learning to read and wanted to see a new website’s approach to teaching reading skills.

Elli excitedly watched me set up the account and get it ready for her to take over. The program was intuitive enough that she needed very little guidance to get going and to enjoy her reading lessons and activities. Here’s a look at her first few moments on Reading Eggs.

She’s also enjoyed the games and review activities. I like how it has them practice again and again by giving them a slightly different task each time so it doesn’t feel repetitive. I especially liked the challenge to do it faster the next time. Elli loves a good race against the clock!

Overall she has enjoyed the Reading Eggs site. She asks to do it unprompted. She prefers to play the games and activities as opposed to doing the lessons. But all the games and activities have a learning component to them so it’s still time well spent.

When I’m looking at online programs that I’m paying for my kids to use, there are a few things that really seal the deal for me. I want my kids engaged in what is offered. I want everything they are able to do to have a learning component. And I want them to like it enough to ask to get on the site. Reading Eggs fits all these criteria! Plus I love that the two week trial does not require a credit card. You don’t have to remember to cancel a subscription if it’s not a good fit. But you will certainly remember to get a subscription when your child wants to continue using the site after the trial is over.

What do YOU look for in a subscription-based learning website?

*We received a 3-month trial of Reading Eggs via US Family Guide in exchange for a review of their online reading program. All opinions are our own and based on our individual experiences.

I’ve been working endlessly on a new project. I’m so excited that it’s finally in a stage where it’s ready to be shared! I’ve entered the world of magazine publishing. The magazine, Growing Up, is available on the App Store’s Newsstand. When you download it, it shows up in the Newsstand of your device. Inside the app you are able to subscribe, preview issues, and download issues. The first issue is all about Enjoying Nature with Kids.

Because a magazine would be boring if I was the only one writing the articles, I gathered some pretty awesome content from some amazing bloggers and put it all together with whistles and bells to make Growing Up an interactive experience you can enjoy by yourself and with your little ones. You can watch videos, connect with bloggers, browse Pinterest, purchase music and books all from within the magazine itself. It’s such an amazing resource for getting the most out of your magazine experience.

Contributors to Growing Up Issue 1 September 2013

I want to give a shout out to the brave bloggers who contributed to a brand new magazine. They have been fabulous to work with and hope they feel the same!

Sammi has really taken off in her reading over the last few months. I find her around the house reading a book or magazine almost as often as I find her playing with her siblings. She’s truly discovered the joy of getting lost in a story.

Now it’s Elli’s turn. She’s in Kindergarten this year and is gearing up to become an independent reader. She’s starting to recognized some words and is getting more comfortable sounding out words. She’s not always that interested in reading. But she definitely loves being online.

I recently learned about a new online reading program called Reading Eggs. They are currently offering a free two week trial where you don’t have to enter a credit card to start your trial. I love that! I’m excited now that we’re home from Orlando and Universal Studios so I can explore Reading Eggs with Elli. Reading Eggs focuses on a core reading curriculum of skills and strategies essential for sustained reading success and is suitable for children aged 3 through 12.

Reading Eggs began in the United States and Canada in 2011. Since that time, it has gained more than 500,000 subscribers and presented more than 15 million lessons in North America. That’s a track record that leads me to believe it’s worth looking into. I’ll be checking out Reading Eggs this week. I look forward to sharing our experience with it.

We received a treasure of a book in the mail box the other day. Scholastic sent us Mem Fox’s newest book, Good Night Sleep Tight, illustrated by Judy Horacek. Mem Fox and Judy Horacek have teamed up before for Where Is the Green Sheep?

Good Night Sleep Tight is the story of a babysitter putting a brother and a sister to bed. Sammi loves when we’re visiting Brent’s sister and they do something together. She always comments, “A brother and a sister!” She gets a lot of joy out of those sibling relationships. Back to the brother and the sister from this story. The babysitter tells them familiar nursery rhymes. Then they ask to hear it again and instead he tells them another.

The rhymes are delightfully illustrated and we usually pause to enjoy the pictures, talk about the rhyme or do any actions that go with it. It also has a cute repeated transition between nursery rhymes. The kids picked up on this right away and enjoyed saying it all together. They also took turns doing “This Little Piggy” on each others’ toes. This was a book they all enjoyed reading together. It’s been harder to find books they can all equally enjoy with Sammi now 7 and an independent reader. She actually read this one to us all which warmed my heart. Another bedtime favorite!

I heard, once upon a day, that children who know at least 3 nursery rhymes by the time they are 5 will be more successful at learning to read in Kindergarten. I have searched and searched for that reference and finally found it, TONIGHT! The best part, it’s from Mem Fox in a book on children’s literacy that I have on my book shelf. Oh, the lovely circle of life. And actually, it’s 8 nursery rhymes.

“Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight

nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the

best readers by the time they’re eight.” [Fox, M. (2001).Reading Magic. San Diego, CA:Harcourt.]

Good Night Sleep Tight will help your little one on their way to knowing 8 nursery rhymes. For daytime fun reinforcing the nursery rhymes your littles are learning, check out these fun crafts and activities:

Our favorite bedtime ritual is reading books. We’ve done it since Sammi was an infant and it has been so fun to see her passion for books blossom. We’ve moved through many phases and interests. It’s been fun with Elli and Scott to see them move through their own journey of discovering and falling in love with books. Scott has his own room now and so he gets his very own time reading books with either me or Brent. His interests have definitely been different from his sisters.

We received a new book from Scholastic that was released last week to review. Night Light by Nicholas Blechman has quickly become one of our favorite bedtime reads. Blechman does a superb job of mixing counting with vehicles with a night time theme. I love how the last page ties the whole book together. The more we’ve read it, the more engaging it’s become. It’s a definite win for our boy.

Sammi’s favorite bedtime counting book was Good Night, Poppy and Max. She loved it so much we checked it out the max number of times from the library then bought it. Elli and Scott have also enjoyed this one and it’s till gets read frequently around here.

Some of my favorite reads in my feed reader from the week. Each of these posts had something that really resonated with me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! But first, my favorite picture of the week:

We took a walk one night after dinner. I love that Sammi is wearing Brent’s hat and that she and Scott are holding hands. It was a lovely family moment.

Managing Email: Streamline your email
This contains two graphics that are fantastic. I laughed out loud at both of them because they are SO true!

School Choices: First Day of Preschool
Keri so perfectly describes how I felt about the girls going to public school this year instead of staying home with me and Scott. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who sent a child to school when my heart really yearned for them to stay home. Yep, I’m still conflicted over that choice.

Election Time: Picture Books About Presidents & Elections
I’m not very interested in politics, but I want my kids to be learn more about the political process than I did so they can, hopefully, become interested and make a difference in their communities. These books look like a great place to start!